calling all CoDown anglers

hey folks i have been a member here for a while and although i do not post much i do enjoy browsing the site and forum . The reason i am posting today is about an issue very close to all our hearts - the needless slaughter of juvenile fish by certain people who fish along our coastline . Over the last few months while fishing along the CoDown coast i have had the displeasure to witness these people killing and taking bags and buckets of juvenile fish ( to eat at best guess ). after listening to other anglers complain about it but not really seeming to wanting to do anything about it i took it upon myself to try and make the powers that be aware of what was going on ... After several weeks of contacting the supposed government agencies that are mean't to be in charge of such things i got frustrated by their lack of interest so contacted the local newspaper ( the CoDown spectator) . the paper has decided they want to run a story on the subject and after contacting the marine conservation NI organisation they have decided to take part aswell . I have contacted a few other organisations but am yet to hear back from them .... I would also like to offer the chance to any anglers in my area who would like t have an input in the article with their own personal accounts of what they have witnessed .

I know this newspaper is very localised as it is purely Codown based but it's a start and although it may not get anything done surely making the general public aware of what is going on is a step in the right direction . If i can do this and i am nothing but a recreational angler then anyone can do the same in there area .

Thanks for taking the time to read this and if anyone in my area would like to have their say then pm me and i will try and get it organised at a time to suit . thanks again Gareth

Good onyer Gareth.

cheers tanglerat i was heavily into coarse angling for many years after taking a break from sea angling and i watched as my local lakes got destroyed by people like this and i'll be damned if i'm gonna sit back and watch it happen to the coastline aswell . i may just be one person but if i phone/email/annoy people enough it's bound to make some sort of impact .Gareth

good man Gareth
well done. i hope the bigger papers take note soon too
im sure that you will have the support of all irish anglers
good luck

Well done Gareth!!
Thats the type of thinking you want. I'm not from there but if I was I would be right beside you.
Let's hope you get good support, great to see someone actually doing something for a change.
Tommy

How good is the shore fishing along the Co. Down coast? Have just spent a few days near Strangford without my fishing gear, I toured the Lough itself plus the coastline south of Kilclief taking in Coney Island, Ardglass, and Tyrella strand.

Also drove up along the causeway coast which looks great but my gut feeling tells me the fishing could be better. Here's hoping that I am mistaken.

How good is the shore fishing along the Co. Down coast? Have just spent a few days near Strangford without my fishing gear, I toured the Lough itself plus the coastline south of Kilclief taking in Coney Island, Ardglass, and Tyrella strand.

Also drove up along the causeway coast which looks great but my gut feeling tells me the fishing could be better. Here's hoping that I am mistaken.

The Co Down coast is possibly the worst part of the North to fish from tbh..
Plenty of species but nothing to write about!!
Belfast lough has plenty of mullet and some decent sea trout at the Belfast end of the lough.
Bottom fishing over sand/mud in the lough is very poor.There used to be loads of rays and spurs but over fishing destroyed that..Fishing over weed and rocks will produce wrasse/cod/congers tho these seem to be in decline also.Maybe something to do with the amound of pots along the coast!!

Strangford lough is stuffed with mullet and again some nice sea trout.Plenty of flounder tho nobody really bothers with them.
I know there are tope in the lough but i think they are few and far between.
The Ardglass area has the deepest water for shore fishing from our coast and has real potential for some good rough ground fishing for wrasse/pollack/congers etc,but its full of mackie bashers so prob best to go of the beaten track to get away from them!!

You never hear too much about the beach fishing down that way(Ardglass/Newcastle) but i`ve heard stories about the odd bass from Sept-December..

There`s plenty of fish on our coast but just nothing very big.

the fishing in CoDown is good if you put in the hours and you know where to look . i was fishing a new mark i have found within sight of bangor harbour itself last week and i had several pollock around the 2.5lb mark and lost a big one close to double figures when i pulled the hook at the surface . was ragin i lost it at the time but atleast i know it's there . Also had my first red gurnard of the year a few days back . I have always found it fishes best from august on as the whiting and codling move inshore to feed . the last few years i have caught countless juvenile haddock which i have never even seen from the shore until a few years ago .

CoDown is a very good nursery for lots of species of fish so there are lots of small ones about but there are plenty of decent fish . All i can say is roll on winter time when i can get my cod fix again as i have also had them upto 5lb over the last few years and hopefully i'll better that this year.

Not only co. Down suffers from the same problem, and in my opinion there not much gonna be changing until all of this be properly protected by law, people just ignore that, becouse there is no prosecution for this.
I was talking to local garda officers about number of court cases in co. Monaghan between 2006 and now, and at this stage the situation is lots better than it was few years ago, becouse load of people been charged by hudge fines starting with €1000 and up, for illegal fresh water fishing and that made a big impact and have put all these guys off the fishing or at least illegal one.
All these changes occured, becouse all this led to prosecution.
So if some laws would be released protecting the undersize fish in sea fishing, than we can expect some changes in the sea too.
First steps for a state could be costly, but later it will pays back with money payd on fines, and that also can create new job places in many of fishery boards in many different countys.
I would go for that

the fishing in CoDown is good if you put in the hours and you know where to look . i was fishing a new mark i have found within sight of bangor harbour itself last week and i had several pollock around the 2.5lb mark and lost a big one close to double figures when i pulled the hook at the surface . was ragin i lost it at the time but atleast i know it's there . Also had my first red gurnard of the year a few days back . I have always found it fishes best from august on as the whiting and codling move inshore to feed . the last few years i have caught countless juvenile haddock which i have never even seen from the shore until a few years ago .

CoDown is a very good nursery for lots of species of fish so there are lots of small ones about but there are plenty of decent fish . All i can say is roll on winter time when i can get my cod fix again as i have also had them upto 5lb over the last few years and hopefully i'll better that this year.

I think i know the 'new' spot you`re talking about and i could well believe you lost a fish of near 10lb as the biggest i`ve seen come from there was 9lb 12oz(i netted it )
The thing is that if conditions were good you could go down there and almost be sure you`ll catch a couple of pollack between 4-6lb along with loads of smaller one`s.
If you were fishing rag you could easily get 20-30 wrasse of 2-4lb and good numbers of cod to the size you had.These days however you have to put far more effort in to get the fish.They dont seem to be in the same numbers as they were just 5 years ago!!
There are a few other rough ground marks near Bangor that will fish similar to that mark but the clean ground fishing is a total waste of effort IMO..

P.s. dont wait for winter to get your cod fix they are around all year..I`ve had some of my biggest cod while wrasse fishing in Sept/Oct... I had a few in June this year to about 1.5lb

Agreed Davy, i've pulled in big pollack just around the corner so to speak, using fluorescent muppets retrieved slowly over the kelp. Red codling are not too much further around the path i also saw a bullhuss pulled in not far from brompton, so there is still some good fishing to be had although like you say it is hard work.